A blog launched on the 41st anniversary of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC), the first pro-life organisation in the world, established on 11 January 1967. SPUC has been a leader in the educational and political battle against abortion, human embryo experimentation and euthanasia since then. I write this blog in my role as SPUC's chief executive, commenting on pro-life news, reflecting on pro-life issues and promoting SPUC's work.

Monday, 30 August 2010

In an interview on Zenit, Edmund Adamus, the pastoral affairs director of the Catholic archdiocese of Westminster, provides a compelling analysis of England in the context of Pope Benedict's visit next month. He says:

" ... whether we like it or not as British citizens and residents of this country ... the fact is that historically, and continuing right now, Britain ... has been and is the geopolitical epicenter of the culture of death ... Britain in particular, with its ever-increasing commercialization of sex, not to mention its permissive laws advancing the gay agenda*, is such a wasteland ...

" ... Our laws and lawmakers for over 50 years or more have been the most permissively anti-life and progressively anti-family and marriage, in essence one of the most anti-Catholic landscapes culturally speaking than even those places where Catholics suffer open persecution."

Edmund speaks of "a time of shadows" which are especially threatening to the family and to the rights of parents and he prays that "the Papal visit will inspire all here, both Church and state, to interiorly kneel before that inestimable icon of the Trinity: marriage and the family".

*I wrote recently about the pro-homosexual "rights" agenda and the culture of death. The late Pope John Paul II, the great pro-life champion, taught in paragraph 97 of his 1995 encyclical Evangelium Vitae that it is an illusion to think that we can build a true culture of human life if we do not offer adolescents and young adults an authentic education in sexuality, and in love, and the whole of life according to their true meaning and in their close interconnection.

Friday, 27 August 2010

My thoughts and prayers are very much with Fr Thomas J Euteneuer (pictured) this evening, who stepped down today as president of Human Life International (HLI). Equally, I am praying for the board of directors of this magnificent organization, founded by Fr Paul Marx, which funds and carries out pro-life work in 105 countries worldwide. It is second to none in its international work in so many countries in defence of unborn children and in its vision of what's entailed in building a true culture of life.

My good friend Monsignor Ignacio Barreiro, director of HLI's Rome office, is taking the reins as acting president until a new appointment is made. This means that Human Life International will be in completely safe hands during its interregnum - demonstrating the strength and resourcefulness of this outstanding pro-life group.

" ... after traveling more than 1.1 million miles, authoring two books, visiting 58 countries and making thousands of public appearances, I am ready for a break! I intend to continue to do pro-life work wherever I may be called to serve, and my bishop agrees that this is a vital charism of my priestly life. A true pro-lifer is not oriented to a job so much as to the daily task of fighting the culture of death and building the culture of life! ... "

Thank you Fr Euteneuer for your formidable leadership in our historic struggle against, arguably, the greatest evil which has ever befallen humanity. As you take up your new mission, those you have inspired in so many other parts of the world will be continuing to develop the work you've done so much to establish on firm foundations.

You became universally known as the face of Human Life International. Your humility and courage in explaining the truth about the battle against abortion was, for me, beautifully expressed by 17-year old Catholic Miss Angela Rose after watching you debate with American talk show host, Sean Hannity (see below).

"This is what a priest should be like…humble, always ready to stand up for the faith and suffering humiliation all the while. We need more advocates like Father Euteneuer in the Church!"

"The last government spent £300 million on its Teenage Pregnancy Strategy, [yet the latest] data confirm[s] this country’s unassailable position as Europe’s trailblazer in sexual irresponsibility."

"This is a failure of policy on an epic scale, the result of a 13-year social experiment that has proved an unmitigated disaster. Labour ... channell[ed] all its energies and money into sex education programmes of dubious worth, while making contraception freely available – frequently without the knowledge of parents – to girls who were often under the age of consent. Ministers and officials reacted with horror to any suggestion that moral issues might come into play, while the notion of abstinence campaigns, widely deployed in the US, was greeted with contempt."

"There is strong evidence that the most effective method of reducing teenage pregnancies is not sex education, but the improvement of general education standards ... [P]arents must be part of the process, not kept in ignorance: evidence from America shows that their involvement helps to reduce teenage pregnancy rates."

"The Coalition has the opportunity to turn the tide ...[This] requires our political leaders not to shy away from taking a clear moral stand, and proclaiming the value and virtue of family life."

Yet, in the unlikely event that the Coalition does a volte-face from Labour's strategy, will such a change be supported by the Catholic bishops' conference of England and Wales? The Catholic Education Service (CES), an organ of the bishop's conference, welcomed and helped draft radical anti-life/anti-family sex and relationships guidance during the previous administration. Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster has made clear his support for the prevailing ideology on sex and relationships education, and defended the CES's appointment of Greg Pope, a former Labour MP with a lengthy anti-life/anti-family record.

‘We must have unity at all price. If I speak out against it, there’ll be disunity among the bishops, and we can’t have that’.”

That is a clear case, not just of episcopal cowardice, but also of episcopal complicity in the assault upon our families and our children.

*The late Pope John Paul II, the great pro-life champion, taught in paragraph 97 of his 1995 encyclical Evangelium Vitae that it is an illusion to think that we can build a true culture of human life if we do not offer adolescents and young adults an authentic education in sexuality, and in love, and the whole of life according to their true meaning and in their close interconnection.

Thursday, 26 August 2010

Chris Bryant (pictured), a Labour MP, plans to introduce a ten-minute rule bill to make sex education compulsory in schools. The proposal will be debated on 8 September.

Compulsory sex-education is a key objective of the pro-abortion lobby – part of its ongoing campaign to use schools as a vehicle for promoting sexual health services – including abortion. A similar proposal was of course defeated just before the election, when Ed Balls was forced to drop compulsory sex education clauses from the Children, Schools and Families bill.

As a ten-minute rule bill, Mr Bryant’s proposal has little or no chance of becoming law, but it is an important opportunity to establish the mood in the new parliament on the issue. New rules on sex education could be part of a government bill later in the year.

It is critical to contact your MP and ask him/her to oppose the Bryant bill and any proposal for compulsory sex education. SPUC has produced a briefing on the Bryant bill and the issues it raises to help you in contacting your MP. Paper copies of our Bryant Bill Briefing are also available from SPUC HQ by telephoning 020 7091 7091 or emailing political@spuc.org.uk

Wednesday, 25 August 2010

SPUC has responded to new statistics which show that the proportion of recorded teenage pregnancies which end in registered abortions has risen.

Paul Tully, SPUC's general secretary, told Wales Online yesterday:

"The latest quarterly abortion figures for Wales show the highest ever proportion of babies concieved to women and girls under 18 have died by abortion. Almost half of all babies conceived to mothers in this age group are now being killed, and this proportion has increased substantially in the past 5 years.

"We are deeply concerned that this reflects the pressures that young mothers face. We urgently need a change of policy on the part of the government and the medical profession to support all expectant mothers and their babies - abortion kills babies and hurts women.

"These figures make a mockery of abortion law, which requires every abortion to be authorised by two doctors on medical grounds. In reality, there is no genuine medical indication in the vast majority of cases.

"The figures also challenge the idea that women are freely deciding to have abortions. Teenage girls have been targeted by pro-abortion policies in recent years. Teenage girls are under increasing pressure firstly to become sexually active despite lacking the usual support needed to bear a child, and secondly to undergo abortions rather than give birth. These young women and their babies have been the fodder of the Blair-era teenage pregnancy strategy, with its failed target to reduce under-18 pregnancies by 50% over the past ten years. Those who are socially disadvantaged are especially vulnerable to pressure to submit to abortion. Our experience suggests that many women undergo abortions reluctantly, and many deeply regret the loss of their baby - though not all can express their sorrow."

The data are processed and issued by the ONS, but the source of the data is not stated: we believe it is the Department of Health or the Teenage Pregnancy Unit. These bodies reflect and implement pro-abortion government policies relating to abortion, and data should be read in light of this.

Tuesday, 24 August 2010

Jack Valero (pictured), spokesman for the Birmingham Oratory, and Ruth Dudley Edwards, the writer, debated the issue of the Birmingham Three on BBC Radio Ulster on Sunday - see my blog last Friday for the background to this. You can listen to the debate on the BBC website and read an uncorrected transcript of it on the SPUC website. Ruth Dudley Edwards has written about the debate on the Standpoint magazine website.

Mr Valero said that the "disciplinary matters" to which (he claims to have) referred previously regarding the Three were

"are going to come back at some point, we don’t know, it’s not going to be soon"

more likely after the Pope's beatification of Cardinal Newman in Birmingham on 19 September. This is in contrast to Mr Valero's previous claim made back in June that the Three

"can come back soon and continue as normal."

Yet Br Lewis Berry has not been returned to the Birmingham Oratory but sent thousands of miles away to South Africa for at least a year. The Three have already been sent away from the Oratory for over 100 days.

Interestingly, The Catholic Herald reported yesterday that:

"English Catholic officials are hoping that the Pope will not further inflame anti-Catholic sentiment by speaking out against gay marriage or adoption, or abortion and divorce."

"Could it be that external forces who want a Catholic Church which is inclusive of the Blairs' anti-life, anti-family positions are bringing pressures to bear in this situation? How very convenient it would be, especially in the run-up to Pope Benedict's visit, if uncomfortable issues such as the teaching of the Church on contraception, abortion and on homosexuality were also safely hidden away?"

Monday, 23 August 2010

As I frequently mention, Pope John Paul II, the great pro-life champion, teaches in paragraph 97 of Evangelium Vitae that it is an illusion to think that we can build a true culture of human life if we do not offer adolescents and young adults an authentic education in sexuality, and in love, and the whole of life according to their true meaning and in their close interconnection. In this connection, it's high time the Catholic bishops of England and Wales defended the culture of life by cutting their ties with pro-homosexual "rights" campaigning Catholics.

There were at least two articles in last weekend's mainstream press attacking the Catholic Church's opposition to homosexual* adoption - and both were by former official advisors to the Catholic bishops' conference of England and Wales.

The first article, in the pro-abortion Guardian, was written by Martin Pendergast, a former member of the bishops' social welfare committee. He was also a faith-advisory member of the government’s strongly pro-abortion Teenage Pregnancy Independent Advisory Group (TPIAG) for five years. Mr Pendergast is best known as a militant activist among Christians for so-called homosexual rights. He is the leading figure in the organisation of regular Masses in Westminster archdiocese for a group of homosexuals which dissents from the Church's teaching on homosexuality. Vincent Nichols, archbishop of Westminster, continues to allow priests to celebrate these Masses at a central diocesan church, despite the heartfelt and well-founded objections of faithful pro-life/pro-family Catholics to the situation. Mr Pendergast is the civil partner of Julian Filochowski, former head of CAFOD, the bishop's overseas aid agency, and a trustee of The Tablet , which remains on sale at Westminster cathedral and in Catholic churches throughout England and Wales despite its notorious dissent from Catholic pro-life/pro-family teaching. Bishop John Crowley, former bishop of Middlesbrough, attended a Mass in 2001 to celebrate 25 years of the Pendergast - Filochowski relationship.

The second article, in the pro-abortion Independent, was written by Paul Vallely, a director of The Tablet and an advisor to the bishops on prison welfare. Mr Vallely has also been active in CAFOD, as well as the Catholic Institute for International Relations (CIIR), now renamed Progressio (see my 2008 blog about Progressio's association with the pro-abortion cause.)

Both Pendergast and Vallely claim that Catholics do not have to follow the Church's teaching on homosexuality, which they label a third level (i.e. not infallible) teaching. William May, a leading American bioethicist, exploded that claim, writing:

"[The] magisterium has proposed, as a matter definitively to be held, that it is always gravely immoral intentionally to kill the innocent, to commit adultery (or fornication or sodomy), etc."

So Archbishop Nichols and the bishops' conference of England and Wales needs to decide: Who are they in communion with - Pope Benedict XVI and the archbishop of Morelia, or Pendergast, Vallely and The Tablet? It cannot be both. As our Lord said, a man cannot serve two masters; he will love the one and hate the other.

Stuart Reid, a respected veteran Catholic journalist, has written the most unfortunate piece for this weekend's Charterhouse column in The Catholic Herald. In brief, he labels Catholic bloggers, families and Birmingham Oratory parishioners standing up for the Birmingham Three (see my blog last Sunday) as over-excited, self-righteous, judgmental conspiracy theorists. Mr Reid has done a grave disservice to faithful pro-life/pro-family Catholics by his patronising comments. Mr Reid is also wide of the mark on at least two key points.

Mr Reid asserts that:

"the bishops of England and Wales are by no means above reproach, but their occasional equivocations and their reluctance to silence dissidents does not mean that they have embraced a Cherie Blair view of the Church."

"Occasional equivocations" is a wholly inadequate description of the bishops' frequent and determined support for anti-life and anti-family legislation, policies and practices, such as:

So, I think the evidence speaks for itself that "a Cherie Blair view of the Church" is precisely the vision that the bishops of England and Wales have. They are themselves "dissidents" within the Catholic Church.

Mr Reid is also wrong when he claims:

"Mr Valero has been consistent in this matter."

Readers of my blog will recall that Jack Valero of Opus Dei is spokesman for the Newman canonisation cause and the Birmingham Oratory, and that he has confirmed unequivocally that the Three are entirely guiltless of any wrong-doing whatsoever. Mr Valero told BBC West Midlands that, after

"a time away to cool down and pray and to reflect on how disagreements arose and difficulties living together arose"

I will be listening to Sunday Sequence at 8.30 a.m. on BBC Radio Ulster this Sunday to hear "William Crawley and his guests debate the week's religious and ethical news" (according to the programme notes).

"On Sunday, we will try to make some sense of what is going on at the Birmingham Oratory and why three Oratorians who are "innocent of any wrong doing" have been "silenced and exiled" in what their supporters are describing as the ecclesiastical equivalent of "extraordinary rendition". Ruth Dudley Edwards and Jack Valero will be my guests on Sunday morning."

Mr Crawley continues:

"The campaign to 'free' the Birmingham Three is gathering pace. Supporters of Fr Dermot Fenlon, Fr Philip Cleevely and Brother Lewis Berry have now launched their own website, "

Regular readers will also know that Ruth Dudley Edwards, the author, is an historian, biographer and journalist with a burning sense of injustice about the treatment of the three Oratorians and that she has been writing about the situation in various journals. Last weekend, in The Irish Independent, she wrote:

"... I haven't had that much I could agree on with Dermot Fenlon, a close friend at UCD and Cambridge University, a distinguished academic who became a priest of impeccable orthodoxy.

"But I hate injustice, and Dermot has become a victim of a faction within his church which favours the old weapons of authoritarianism and concealment. When I read in late May that he had been ordered to a Trappist monastery, I was horrified.

For the last 20 years, Dermot has lived in the Birmingham Oratory founded by Cardinal Newman, nurturing his parishioners, continuing his Newman studies and praying so much he was known for his shiny trouser-knees ... "

I am a layman and pro-life family man who is aware of the unequivocal stand taken by these three good men against the anti-life, anti-family sex and relationships education policies of the last Government and of the Catholic bishops' conference of England and Wales.They need people to defend them. I intend to keep on doing so.

*Pope John Paul II, the great pro-life champion, teaches in paragraph 97 of Evangelium Vitae that it is an illusion to think that we can build a true culture of human life if we do not offer adolescents and young adults an authentic education in sexuality, and in love, and the whole of life according to their true meaning and in their close interconnection.

Wednesday, 18 August 2010

There have been a number of stories recently about the use of birth control drugs and devices as so-called emergency contraception e.g. Mail on Sunday, Reuters. I have of course written many times before about the wider implications for the culture of life of contraception, that is, the intentional separation of the unitive and procreative meanings of conjugal relations. Without revisiting that here, I wish to highlight the abortifacient nature of most birth control drugs and devices.

According to the manufacturers of these drugs and devices, one of their modes of action is to prevent the implantation in the womb of newly-conceived human embryos; in other words, to kill unborn children through micro-abortion. It is a simple fact that the killing of unborn children by morning-after pills is just as wrong as, say, killing unborn children through partial-birth abortion. An abortion is an abortion is an abortion. The specific aspects of micro-abortion and of partial-birth abortion may differ. For example, a micro-abortion involves killing:

the most vulnerable and dismissed human beings

usually by people who deny or are unware of the humanity of human embryos and the abortifacient mode of most birth control

in an uneventful, unseen way (at least superficially).

A partial-birth abortion involves killing:

babies who are clearly identifiable to the naked eye as babies

often by people who know and accept the humanity of late-term unborn children and the homicidal nature of late-term abortion

through the most horrific dismemberment.

These things are different aspects of the respective abortion techniques, but not differences in the fundamental nature and objective wrongness of those techniques, which are equal.

It is therefore clear that:

parents

teachers

medics

pharmacists

clergy

all have a moral obligation:

not to be complicit in any way in the distribution, promotion or use of

to exercise conscientious objection to

to act and warn against the use of

the morning-after pill and all other birth control drugs and devices which may have an abortifacient mode of action.

Tuesday, 17 August 2010

"The Catholic Voice newspaper (15 August 2010) reports that the European Union is funding a conference in Dublin in September, entitled Voices of Children. Very good and proper, you might say. However, the conference will be hosted by a group called Marriage Equality. This group was set up to promote the Civil Partnership Act, and to fight for the status of marriage to be granted to homosexuals and lesbians. The Civil Partnership Act, the group says, doesn’t go far enough for them as it doesn’t yet recognise homosexual marriage, nor does it allow for the adoption of children on the part of homosexuals and lesbians. The October conference is being held to promote the legalisation of adoption of children by [homosexuals]. Rónán Mullen, the Independent senator, who was one of only the four senators who spoke against the enactment of the Civil Partnership Act last month, points out that European Union and Irish government officials have repeatedly claimed that social and ethical issues, including laws on marriage and the family, are matters for member-states and are outside the competence of the EU. So much for Government promises!

"Senator Mullen continues:

‘The funding of this conference highlights an issue that caused many Irish voters to reject the Lisbon Treaty – the problem of “competence creep” in the European Union. This happens when European institutions such as the European Commission and the European Court of Justice (ECJ) extend their policy and decision-making into areas that are supposed to be matters for individual member states.’

"It is indeed a very sad, and serious, state of affairs when a government such as the Irish Government overrides the stated wishes of the people and steamrolls the agenda of a minority but powerful group whose stated aim it is to destroy the family."

Pope John Paul II, a great pro-life champion of the 20th and 21st centuries, pointed out that:

“It is an illusion to think that we can build a true culture of human life if we do not help the young to accept and experience sexuality and love and the whole of life according to their true meaning and in their close interconnection ... There can be no avoiding the duty to offer, especially to adolescents and young adults, an authentic education in sexuality and in love ...” (EV 97)

Readers of this blog may therefore wish to lobby their members of the European parliament (MEPs), urging them to raise the misuse of EU funds in the funding of the Marriage Equality's Voices for Children conference:

Monday, 16 August 2010

Some years ago, the Sophia Press (U.S.A.) published a small, illustrated book, entitled Angel in the Waters, by Regina Doman. It is the story of an unborn baby speaking to her mother, and it is described as follows:

In its mother’s womb, a tiny baby grows, explores the waters, and talks with the angel who is there. These gentle illustrations and wise words tell the story of that baby and the angel in the waters… a story that’s sure to delight all young children because the journey from conception to birth is their story, too.

Now, a song, ‘A Seed of Life’, accompanied by the images from the Angel in the Waters book, has been issued on the YouTube video above. It's well worth watching.

Enjoy!

The book itself can be ordered from the Sophia Press at this address: Sophia Institute
Press, Box 5284, Manchester, N.H. 03108, U.S.A.

Mothers who sing lullabies during pregnancy may benefit themselves as well as their unborn children, according to a story in the Irish Times earlier this month.

A research team at the university of Limerick is studying ways of reducing pregnancy stress and a Lullaby Research team has been established at the univiersity "between the school of nursing and midwifery, the graduate entry medical school, the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance and the Irish Chamber Orchestra".

The Irish Times reports:

"The calming effect of music may be attributable to the normal tempo of music falling somewhere between 60 and 80, when measured on the metronome. The average measure is 72, which corresponds with the average adult heartbeat. There is also considerable evidence to suggest listening to music and singing benefits both mother and infant."

It will be interesting to learn the findings of this study which, the Irish Times tells us, will be ready soon.

Sunday, 15 August 2010

As my regular visitors will know, three Birmingham Oratorians were ordered to spend time in prayer for an indefinite period in three separate monasteries, in Scotland, Leicestershire and France. During the past few days, it's been reported that Brother Lewis has been sent to the Port Elizabeth Oratory in South Africa.

The things which strike me most about this situation are:

the powers-that-be say they are entirely guiltless of any wrong-doing whatsoever, including, specifically, sexual misdemeanours or homophobia

the confidence and apparent ruthlessness with which manifestly unjust and draconian sentences on them are being enforced

Ruth Dudley Edwards picks up on these themes in an article in today's Irish Independent. It's worth reading. You might also wish to join the Facebook group "Free the Birmingham Three". You can also keep up with development through the Free the Birmingham Oratory Three blog.

Dr John Fleming, SPUC's bioethical consultant, has sent me his analysis of a report by Ofsted, the schools inspectorate, into sex and relationships education. I blogged about the Ofsted report last month. I report Fr Fleming's analysis in full below:

The Ofsted report, “Sex and Relationships Education in Schools”, is a very curious document at best and downright subversive at worst. The report is “a response to a recommendation in the Social Exclusion Unit’s 1999 report Teenage pregnancy that the Ofsted that should carry out a survey of sex and relationships education and produce a guide to good practice.”

1. That Ofsted is not well placed to carry out serious research is amply demonstrated by the methodology employed in this report. The methodology used is merely a collection of impressions by a wide range of Ofsted inspectors about what those inspectors considered to be the state of affairs in a school and based on their attendance at one or two lessons. It is quite unclear how these opinions are arrived at. There is no declared standardisation of the “judgements” made, and one is left with the impression that the “judgements” appear to be no more than the subjective assessments of a variety of different judges.

2. The examples used in the report are, from an educational point of view, damning although cited by the report favourably. For example, at page 9, the report speaks approvingly of students’ knowledge and understanding of topics such as contraception at Key Stage 4. The report immediately goes on to provide an example of “how a topic such as contraception can be dealt with in a straightforward manner” (page 10). The example given of a Year 10 lesson at a girls’ grammar school” by “a specialist teacher” (specialist in what we are not told), reduces the topic down to one of knowledge about “effective accounts of the use of each contraceptive”. The girls were said to be able to use the correct terminology and that “pupils’ questions were answered accurately and honestly”. Nowhere in this ‘praiseworthy account’ is there any evidence that the students were given “accurate and honest” access to information about the serious moral questions which have been raised about the use of contraception both inside and outside marriage. That should include “accurate and honest” information about the abortifacient mechanism that might be at work with a particular contraceptive. Ofstednot only approves of contraception but seems incapable of thinking there could be any reason to question contraceptive practices. This is indoctrination, not education!

3. The report often refers to “moral development” so that students will have “a moral framework that will guide their decisions, judgements and behaviour” (page 3). But nowhere in the report is there any suggestion that morality is taken seriously beyond students making sensible personal judgements, whatever the word “sensible” is meant to denote. For students to have a moral framework they need to be introduced to the subject in a proper manner. But this report assumes the confused moral reasoning implicitly and sometimes explicitly embraced by unqualified education elites to be the only correct moral reasoning which a student will uncritically embrace. No evidence is given of alternative views being given a fair hearing. The mere transmission of so-called ‘facts’ outside of any properly constructed moral framework is itself tendentious. On page 9 the report defines the areas of knowledge and understanding that students should have by the end of Key Stage 4 in terms which make no reference at all to the significant moral issues at stake. To be sure the report often talks about “morality”, but its authors show no sign either of understanding the reach and scope of moral teaching or about how it really applies in the area of sex and relationships education.

4. The report has little regard for the proper role of parents in the lives of their children. The report boldly states that “schools have been effective in addressing the concerns of parents” (page 6). The evidence cited for this remarkable claim is that “about 4 in every 10,000 pupils (0.04%) are currently withdrawn from the non-statutory aspects of SRE”, which is no evidence at all. That the report has scant regard for parents is revealed later in the report under the revealing heading “Parents and Other Sources of Information and Advice”. The report states that parents are “less and less” the pupils’ main source of advice on sexual matters’ and seems to accept that melancholy fact as if there is nothing to be done about it. The report notes that, according to its research, about 40-50% of pupils think their parents should be their main source of advice, but is lukewarm at suggestions that schools might better spend their time assisting parents to educate their children rather than engage in state sponsored imposition of ‘group think’ on unwitting students. In any other circumstances we would assist the educators to educate, so why not assist the first educators of children to more effectively carry out their role.

5. Finally, this report makes strong recommendations based upon inadequate research, subjective impressions by school inspectors (whose qualification in this area of sex and relationships education is not revealed), and muddled thinking accompanied by fuzzy language. It is more about the indoctrination of a particular approach than real education. Even worse it does not take into account the undeniable fact that current approaches to sex education are massive failures measured against their own clearly stated objectives to reduce teen pregnancy, reduce the number of teen abortions, reduce the number of unmarried teenage mothers, and to reduce the incidence of STIs. If Ofsted took into account all of the information widely available it should have concluded that the current sex and relationships education course are massive failures and are in serious need of a root and branch rethink.

Saturday, 14 August 2010

British Catholic readers of this blog will be interested in a message I've received from Edmund Adamus, director of pastoral affairs for the Catholic archdiocese of Westminster, about the nine-month tour of England and Wales of a full-scale relic replica of the famous image of our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of the unborn. I blogged about the tour back in May.

Edmund writes:

"This digitally reproduced relic image with official seals imprinted upon it is one of only 220 commissioned by Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera in 2004 and entrusted for distribution to nations which welcome them." Edmund explains that the original image is associated with the ending in the 17th century of "the deeply embedded cultural practice of human sacrifice" among the Aztecs.

For those who believe in prayer, it could not be more important to pray at this time in Britain. Unborn children are being sacrificed, through the government's policy of providing schoolchildren, including schoolchildren in Catholic schools, with access to abortion services.

Edmund continues:

"The novena began between March 11-17 2010...It extended to three other London parishes, including Ealing Abbey and the Shrine of Our Lady of Willesden, North London. The permission of each diocesan bishop has been sought to allow the image to be welcomed in his diocese for devotional purposes for the cause of the Gospel of Life, the protection of the unborn, the sanctity of families and the peace of the nation.

"The novena tour which will conclude on weekend of 11th/12th December, the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, in Westminster Cathedral. The image is available on request now and beyond December 12th to any parish/community where the Local Ordinary has already granted permission. Please contact edmundadamus@rcdow.org.uk 020 7798 9363 for further details."

The full schedule and other details about the tour can be read on the SPUC website.

Friday, 13 August 2010

The Polish Federation for Women and Family Planning has been promoting the figure of 10,000 Polish women coming to the UK each year for abortion. Paul Tully, SPUC's general secretary, and Daniel Blackman, who researches international affairs for SPUC, have debunked this claim. They have concluded that:

"There is no solid evidence to support this. It appears that the figure is self-serving speculation."

I publish their analysis in full below.

All abortions in the UK must be registered
The number of registered, legal abortions performed in England and Wales is published each year by the Department of Health of the British government. Abortions performed in Scotland are published separately by the Health Department of the Scottish government. (Scottish abortions account for about 7% of the UK total.) Here, for simplicity, we consider only the England and Wales figures.

The Department of Health is the main provider of abortions in the UK. These abortions are funded through the state-funded National Health Service (NHS) and are performed either in NHS-owned hospitals or with NHS funding in privately-run clinics. About six percent of abortions are performed in privately-run clinics and are paid for privately. These include a proportion which are performed on overseas women not entitled to NHS funding.

Britain has a reciprocal agreement with Poland for the provision of free medical care under EU regulations. The minimum documentation a patient needs is a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC).

No official estimate of Polish ‘visitor’ abortions
The Department of Health’s Statistical Bulletin: Abortion Statistics, England and Wales: 2009 says that for 2009, there were 20 women resident in Poland who had abortions here, which accounted for 0.3% of all abortions on non-resident women. (Table 12a Legal abortions: non residents by country of residence, 2009) This only records those women who said that they were resident in Poland when applying for an abortion. There may be other women who came here for abortions but gave the address of a friend already living in the UK. We are not aware of any study or survey by the Department of Health or any other body to establish an official estimate of this number accurately.

It would be difficult to make an accurate estimate, especially as there is a sizable number of Polish women resident in the UK. One would expect that there are probably a certain number of UK-resident Polish women who have abortions. This means that it would not necessarily be remarkable if, say, a Polish-speaking woman sought an abortion.

Abortions on non-residents are in decline
In 2009, there were 6,643 abortions to residents of other countries compared with 6,862 in 2008. Principally, these non-residents were from Northern Ireland (17%) and the Irish Republic (67%). The number of abortions to non-residents remained between 9,000 and 10,000 in the period 1995 to 2003. The 2009 total is the lowest in any year since 1969.

It would seem unlikely in this context that a growing number of women from Poland are coming to Britain for abortions, especially not on the scale of thousands.

Polish migration
In 2008, there were 64,000 Polish immigrants coming into the UK. Assuming that about half are women, and that the large majority are of child-bearing age, gives a figure of, say 30,000. If 10,000 women were to have an abortion, that would mean one third of the Polish women coming to the UK are coming here to have an abortion. This would seem hugely implausible. There is no evidence for this. http://www.statistics.gov.uk/CCI/nugget.asp?ID=2369&Pos=&ColRank=1&Rank=224

Lack of plausibility
Would women travel to a foreign country, find accommodation (which is very expensive in the UK), find employment (which can be difficult at present), register with the necessary agencies for NHS treatment, etc., given:
(a) the time all this would take (some weeks or months)
(b) the cost it would incur (travel, accommodation – rent, deposit, insurance – employment expenses, etc.)
c) the administration involved (e.g. getting references for accommodation and work)
d) the social isolation often entailed (language difficulty; lack of friends
- when they could book an abortion at a private clinic, probably for much less cost, and certainly far less time and hassle?

Thursday, 12 August 2010

Today we at SPUC have sent out a newsletter to our European and other international contacts. The newsletter contains action alerts on European and international affairs:

Conscientious objection to anti-life practices threatened at Council of Europe
A report on conscientious objection in medicine will be debated in early October in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). The report’s focus is conscientious objection to abortion, contraception, IVF and euthanasia. Please contact your country’s representatives in PACE. More information is available in:

Human embryos in danger via European Parliament animal rights directive
A draft directive on animal experimentation will be debated during the European Parliament’s plenary session on 7 September 2010. The directive could result in scientists experimenting on human embryos instead of animals. Please contact the members of the European Parliament (MEPs) representing your area. More information is available in:

Maternal mortality: moves at UN to promote abortion as human right
A right to abortion, under the guise of reproductive health, will be proposed at a United Nations (UN) summit in New York between 20 and 22 September 2010. Please contact strongly pro-life politicians in your country. More information is available in:

If you would like to receive our international newsletter by email, please visit http://www.spuc.org.uk/em-signup and sign-up to the European affairs list. Existing subscribers to SPUC's email services can add themselves to the European affairs list by first clicking on the "Unsubscribe or change your preferences at" link at the bottom of any recent SPUC email message.

If you would like to receive our international newsletter by post, please supply SPUC with your personal details and postal address either by:

We want to provide this crucial service to as many pro-life contacts as possible. You can help us by forwarding the information in this blog-post to other pro-life groups and contacts in your country. If you know of any pro-life contacts who would like to receive this newsletter, please ask them also supply SPUC with their contact-details by email, telephone or post as above.

Wednesday, 11 August 2010

Fiorella Nash, as many visitors will know, has an excellent blog entitled Monstrous Regiment of Women. A recent post of hers on maternal mortality, for example, included useful practical information for all mothers-to-be.

Last week she posted the above YouTube clip featuring Dr Robert Walley, the president of MaterCare.

Dr Walley is professor or obstetrics and gynaecology at Memorial University in St. John's, Newfoundland.

He presents a beautiful account of pregnancy and childbirth from the perspective of a doctor specializing in obstetrics and gynaecology. When he began training in 1968 he was told that an obstetrician has one objective: "to ensure to the best of his ability that all pregnancies should result in a live healthy baby and a live healthy mother".

He and his colleagues were well-trained in life-saving skills which, with increasing success, were enabling women with medical complications, such as diabetes, epilepsy and heart and kidney diseases, to become mothers - albeit with a lot of extra medical help. Dr Walley cites the (then current) 16th edition of Williams Obstetrics (the leading text in obstetrics for more than 100 years):

"Happily we live and work in an era in which the foetus is established as our second patient with many rights and privileges comparable to those previously achieved only after birth."

Dr Walley goes on to speak about the dark changes that have occurred since then, in particular the passage of abortion legislation which has "turned the practice of obstetrics upside-down" - resulting in millions of abortions and "destruction and despair" rather than positive help for mothers.

Tuesday, 10 August 2010

This Saturday, 14th August, is the monthly day of prayer and fasting for life held by Good Counsel Network. I have blogged previously about The Good Counsel Network and their fantastic work supporting mothers and children facing an abortion.

These days of prayer are an emphatic response from this Catholic pro-life group to John Paul II's statement that a great prayer for life is urgently needed (Evangelium Vitae 100). I ask all readers who pray to consider participating in this day in whatever manner is suitable for you.

As they always do, Good Counsel Network advises that one can fast from all food except bread and water for the day or fast from any particular food or luxury, e.g. chocolate, alcohol, cigarettes, TV. The Good Counsel Network recommends that you fast from whatever you can given your state of health, but to make sure it is something that involves a sacrifice to yourself.You can view their poster for the day in pdf format here.

And He said to them; This kind (of demon) can go out by nothing, but by prayer and fasting. (Mark 9:29)

You might also enjoy reading Good Counsel Network's blog which is regularly updated.

Recently I blogged on a beautiful episode of 'Facing Life Head-On', a pro-life TV show hosted by Brad Mattes of Life Issues Institute. The show focused on Missy Davert, a woman who is 2 feet and 11 inches tall, and her incredible battle to give birth to her unborn children.

Last week the show was awarded a regional Emmy Award in the category of Interview and Discussion. Upon accepting the award Brad Mattes, host and executive producer of the show said: "I believe this is a first for the pro-life movement—receiving an accolade at this level by the media industry, much less the Academy".

The award is a testimony to both an expertly produced show and the heroic actions of Missy Davert in defence of her children. LifeSiteNews.com reports that:

Doctors advised Davert and her husband that she should abort one or both of the infants due to the many difficulties that her pregnancy would entail – an option that the tiny, but feisty woman was unwilling to consider.

With the help of Dr. Daniel Wechter, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist based in Saginaw, Michigan, she was able to carry the twins for 32 weeks before giving birth to Austin and Michaela. They are now 10 years old.

“Missy’s story is an inspiration to any woman who may be facing a high-risk pregnancy” reads a description of the episode on Facing Life Head-On’s website. “With the help and support of Dr. Wechter, Missy was able to defy the odds and give birth to two beautiful children.”

In the acceptance speech at the black-tie award ceremony, Brad Mattes thanked God for allowing him to interview guests that have been such an inspiration to his viewers.

"We thank God for this award. The glory goes to Him. It’s His ministry."

Monday, 9 August 2010

Euthanasia by neglect is a frightening reality of our world today, a society John Paul II rightly described as a culture of death. I know from personal experience the reality of how euthanasia by neglect is promoted. SPUC also knows about euthanasia by neglect because families often turn to us when they are most desperate. Indeed the secular media even know about it.

It is interesting to see that Archbishop Longley of Birmingham made dying with dignity the focus the Catholic Church’s Day for Life this year. Interesting, not least because his fellow archbishop, Peter Smith of Southwark (pictured) was interviewed in The Catholic Herald citing the Mental Capacity Act 2005 as his greatest achievement. I objected strongly to this, because the Mental Capacity Act extended the possible scope of euthanasia by neglect in English statute law.

The Herald interview was misleading with regard to a particular amendment to the Mental Capacity Act which Archbishop Smith claimed had been authored by Professor John Finnis of Oxford university. Archbishop Smith claimed that the amendment had provided a key safeguard against euthanasia by neglect. Thanks to correspondence I received from Professor Finnis, following my post on the Catholic Herald article, it was established that the amendment had not been authored by Professor Finnis and it was made even more clear that the amendment did not provide any real safeguard against euthanasia by neglect.

It is sometimes suggested that lobbying of government by the church leaders in England and Wales, like Archbishop Smith is important, and indeed effective, in the promotion of a culture of life, because it assures the best that can be gotten from bad legislation.

The truth is the interview in The Catholic Herald simply served to perpetuate the myth that all is well in the hands of the Catholic bishops of England and Wales. The same myth was promoted by Archbishop Vincent Nichols during the previous governments’ attempt to force schools to teach anti-life and anti-family sex and relationships education. I thank Christ the Law-giver that the Gospel of Life is based on objective truth and not on the self-serving myths of prelates intent on co-operating with the government of the day.

I have a number of questions for Archbishops Smith and Nichols:

Will you now urgently and directly inform Catholics and non-Catholics of the dire consequences of the Mental Capacity Act?

Will you provide quality pastoral assistance for individuals and families facing the threat of euthanasia, instead of just leaving it up to relatively small organisations like SPUC?

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Sunday, 8 August 2010

Cardinal Keith O'Brien, no stranger to controversy, is in the news again today.

On behalf of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, I offer my heartfelt congratulations to Cardinal Keith O'Brien, the archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, who celebrated last Thursday the silver jubilee of his ordination as a bishop. Unborn babies in Britain and Northern Ireland are undoubtedly safer because of him. If you want to write to congratulate him, you will find his contact details here.

I will never forget the fearless manner in which Cardinal Keith O'Brien told the truth about the British government's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill.

In his Easter Sunday sermon in March 2008, he laid the responsibility for the Human Fertilisation and Embryology bill squarely on the shoulders of Gordon Brown. He said:

"Our Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, has given the government's support to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill.

"It is difficult to imagine a single piece of legislation which, more comprehensively, attacks the sanctity and dignity of human life than this particular bill.

With full might of government endorsement, Gordon Brown is promoting a bill that will allow the creation of animal-human hybrid embryos ...

... He is promoting a bill which denies that a child has a biological father, allows tampering with birth certificates, removing biological parents, and inserting someone altogether different ...*

... And this bill will indeed be used to further extend the abortion laws. This bill represents a monstrous attack on human rights, human dignity and human life".

There's little doubt that the Cardinal's courage, for which he was widely attacked, was one of the factors which prompted Gordon Brown to step back from the brink, not just once but twice, of allowing pro-abortion amendments to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill which would have led to the most damaging extension of the Abortion Act for over 40 years. Another vital factor was the stand taken by Northern Ireland politicians.

*I can't but comment here that, by way of contrast, Archbishop Nichols, the archbishop of Westminster, has defended the appointment of Greg Pope as deputy director of the Catholic Education Service who, as an MP voted against amendments which sought to retain the requirement for doctors to consider the child’s need for a father (20 May 2008) or male role model (20 May 2008) before a woman is given fertility treatment. He also voted against a bill which would have required practitioners providing contraception or abortion services to a child under the age of 16 to inform his or her parent or guardian (14 Mar 2007) and he supported a substantial number of appalling anti-life and anti-family measures and positions as an MP. As a result of his appointment, and Archbishop Nichols's defence of it, unborn children, our children in schools and the rights of parents are less safe than they might be.

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John Smeaton

About Me

I became involved in SPUC after graduating, when I established a branch in south London in 1974. I have worked full-time for SPUC for 39 years. I became chief executive of SPUC in the UK in 1996, having been general secretary since 1978. I was elected vice-president of International Right to Life Federation in 2005. At UN conferences in Cairo, Copenhagen, Beijing, Istanbul and Rome, I helped coordinate more than 150 pro-life/pro-family groups resulting in pro-life victories in Cairo, Istanbul and Rome. I was educated at Salesian College, London, before going to Oxford where I graduated in English Language and Literature. I qualified as a teacher, becoming head of English at a secondary school. I am married to Josephine. We have a grown-up family and we live in north London.

Acknowledgement

I am grateful to SPUC's staff, supporters and advisers for their help to me in researching, writing and producing this blog.

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